1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display control device, and more particularly to a display control device with which a plurality of images can be displayed side by side.
2. Background Information
The integration of signal processing and imaging sensors has been on the rise in recent years in CCDs (Charge Coupled Devices), CMOSs (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductors), and so forth, and these products can now be provided inexpensively. Because of this, there has been a surge in the popularity of digital cameras and digital video cameras (hereinafter referred to simply as digital cameras) with which an optical image of a subject can be converted into an electrical image signal and outputted.
With most digital cameras, a compact display device is installed, and has the function of displaying images one at a time, or the function of displaying a plurality of images all at once (hereinafter referred to as a thumbnail display). As shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2001-45354, displaying images according to the posture of the digital camera during photography, for example, has been proposed as a more convenient display method.
Also, as shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application H6-303562, an imaging device has been proposed with which the progress of the photography can be checked in a device that produces a single panorama image by piecing together a plurality of images.
When a moving subject, such as a car or an airplane, is photographed, the user takes the picture while moving the digital camera horizontally, vertically, or at an angle. Changing the direction of the camera in this way is called panning. When a plurality of images that have been sequentially captured by panning (hereinafter referred to as panned images) are displayed as thumbnail views, in the past they were displayed side by side in the order of the date and time when they were captured.
With a conventional thumbnail display, however, because the direction in which the panned images are aligned does not necessarily coincide with the direction in which the display component is moving or the direction in which the subject is moving during photography, the user may feel some discomfort when viewing the images.
This is not limited to imaging devices, and the same applies when images are printed by printing devices.